Men in charge of “real” work and women the office “housework”: Chinese policewomen in the post-socialist era

ABSTRACT

This qualitative study seeks to contribute to studies on the gender division of labor by examining how Chinese policewomen cope with the still-socialist or danwei style of human resource management. In the post-socialist market reform era, the police department has gone through significant changes, undertaking greater economic monitoring and social service functions, including more office work, with an increasing emphasis on the harmonious relationship between the police and public or service-oriented work. These changes have led to a larger number of policewomen, but have not led to a more equitable division of labor due to the persistence of familial norms of womanhood and the enduring police service performance evaluation system that prioritizes crime-fighting tasks over public-service duties. Against this backdrop, we find that policewomen display a certain degree of flexibility, utilizing certain feminine traits in their community service work while maintaining a non-feminine and physically robust outlook.

ABSTRACT IN CHINESE

本项质性研究试图通过探讨中国女警如何在单位制的人力资源管理模式下平衡社会对女性的期待和工作中的性别化安排，旨在对全球范围内的劳动性别分工研究做出贡献。本文指出，在进入改革开放之后，中国警察部门经历了重大变革，体现为从打击犯罪到承担更多的公共服务职能，并越来越强调警察与公众之间的和谐关系和服务型工作的重要性。这些变化导致女警人数的增加，但由于传统的性别规范持续存在，以及持久的警察服务绩效评估体系将打击犯罪的任务置于公共服务职责之上，并没有导致更公平的性别分工。在这种背景下，我们亦发现，女警表现出一定程度的灵活性，具体体现为：弹性安排生育时间以提高晋升可能性，在日常社区服务工作中有效利用某些女性特征，同时通过健身和穿着保持一种去女性化的、身体强健的面貌。

KEYWORDS:

• Gender
• gendered division of labor
• policewomen
• China
• danwei

KEYWORDS:

• 性别
• 性别分工
• 女警
• 中国
• 单位

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China [grant number 72004090] and the Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China [grant number 20YJC630187].

Notes on contributors

Tingting Liu

Tingting LIU is an associate professor in the School of Journalism and Communication at Jinan University, Guangzhou, China. Her research interests are new media, gender, sexuality, and their intersections. Recent publications by her include peer-reviewed journal articles in Information, Communication & Society, Critical Arts, China Information, Continuum: Journal of Media & Cultural Studies, Television & New Media and Feminist Media Studies.

Lijing Yang

Lijing YANG is an associate professor of Public Administration at Nanjing University, China. Her research focuses on good governance, public values and police service performance. She has published journal articles in the following: International Public Management Journal, International Review of Administrative Sciences, International Journal of Public Administration and Administrative Theory & Praxis.